Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [35]
No chiefly contest topped the holua – an ancient sled that was 6in to 8in wide and 6ft to 12ft long. That’s right, it was about as wide as this book’s height and raced down a mountain at speeds of up to 50mph. The longest course, near Keauhou on the Big Island, descended a mile before plunging into the sea. Losing your balance could mean death – but greatness isn’t proved without risk, right?
Not every sport was potentially deadly, though many involved gambling – like foot and canoe racing, wrestling, cockfighting and stone bowling. As for the gods, no athlete could top Lono, who could kill sharks with stones, and one legend tells of a young chief who casually dismissed a frail old woman’s challenge to a holua race. She then transformed into a very angry Pele – who with thunder under her feet and lightning in her hair, surfed a crested wave of lava down the mountain, killing all who’d laughed at her.
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Golf is wildly popular among all ages, and fan favorites include Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie, a 2007 Punahou graduate who turned heads when she went pro at age 16. In January, two major PGA tournaments draw spectators: the Sony Open in Hawaii at Wai’alae Country Club on O’ahu and the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua Plantation Course (Click here) on Maui.
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Hawaii’s latest sports star is Maui native and baseball player Shane Victorino, ‘the flying Hawaiian,’ who won a Gold Glove on his way to helping the Philadelphia Phillies win the 2008 World Series.
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Other major sporting events include the Ironman Triathlon World Championship (Click here) and the EA Sports Maui Invitational (www.mauiinvitational.com), the nation’s premier preseason college basketball tournament.
Food & Drink
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THE ISLAND DIET
DRINKS
CELEBRATIONS
WHERE TO EAT & DRINK
HABITS & CUSTOMS
VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
EATING WITH KIDS
EAT YOUR WORDS
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‘Dis is seriously broke da mout!’ You’re likely to hear this ultimate compliment if you hang around locals long enough. It means that something is so delicious, it breaks the mouth. And that’s no exaggeration. Here, people go crazy over food.
Defining ‘Hawaii food’ requires a look at Hawaii’s multicultural immigrants. Before human contact, the only indigenous edibles were ferns and ohelo berries. The Polynesians brought kalo (taro), ′ulu (breadfruit), ′uala (sweet potato), mai′a (banana), ko (sugarcane) and niu (coconut), plus chickens, pigs and dogs for meat – and they enjoyed an abundance of seafood.
The island diet expanded when Westerners brought cattle and horses, salted salmon and fruits such as pineapple and guava that now connote Hawaii. When the sugar industry rose to its peak in the late 1800s, bringing waves of immigrants from China, Japan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Korea and the Philippines, Hawaii’s cuisine developed an identity all its own. It took the plantation-era ethnic ingredients (including rice, soy sauce, ginger and chili pepper) but never abandoned Native Hawaiian kalua pork (rich and smoky, traditionally roasted underground) and poke (marinated chunks of raw fish).
Hawaii food is multiethnic, yet distinct from classic ethnic cooking. But rather than discounting the island dishes as inauthentic, recognize that they are meant as island renditions (which locals might call improvements!). Sample this unique, Asian-inspired mélange at celebrated restaurants featuring Hawaii Regional Cuisine (HRC, Click here) and also in everyday grinds (food), such as saimin noodle soup and Spam musubi (rice ball).
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Among the dozens of Hawaii food blogs, two O′ahu-based notables are The Tasty Island at www.tastyisland.wordpress.com (by a kama′aina) and Ma′ona at www.maona.net (by a transplant), featuring compelling restaurant reviews and local commentary.
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This glorious mishmash of cuisines has turned locals into adventurous samplers and passionate eaters.